As the value and use of information continues to increase, individuals and businesses seek additional ways to process and store information. One option available to users is information handling systems. An information handling system generally processes, compiles, stores, and/or communicates information or data for business, personal, or other purposes thereby allowing users to take advantage of the value of the information. Because technology and information handling needs and requirements vary between different users or applications, information handling systems may also vary regarding what information is handled, how the information is handled, how much information is processed, stored, or communicated, and how quickly and efficiently the information may be processed, stored, or communicated. The variations in information handling systems allow for information handling systems to be general or configured for a specific user or specific use such as financial transaction processing, airline reservations, enterprise data storage, or global communications. In addition, information handling systems may include a variety of hardware and software components that may be configured to process, store, and communicate information and may include one or more computer systems, data storage systems, and networking systems.
An information handling system may include numerous information handling resources for carrying out various functionality of the information handling system. The various information handling resources may be communicatively coupled to one another via various busses and interfaces. One type of bus often used in information handling systems is a multi-drop bus. A multi-drop bus (sometimes abbreviated “MDB”) is a communications bus in which all components are coupled to the same set of electrical wires or traces. Multi-drop busses are preferable in many applications as they often have the advantage of simplicity, scalability, and extensibility.
However, one of the major disadvantages of a multi-drop bus is its relatively poor electrical margin, which occurs as a result of reflections at each of the drops (or loads) along the bus. Such disadvantage becomes even more pronounced with increased signals speeds across the bus, limiting attainable operating frequencies under traditional approaches and topologies.